Meet Your EAP
Above: Hospitalist Program Administrator Sarah Benet has benefited from taking several EAP workshops.
Everyone needs occasional advice or help at home or at work: An elderly parent may require round-the-clock care, you may need legal or financial advice, or you may feel that you could do your job better with more training.
The Health Resources Employee Assistance Program (EAP) partners with BIDMC to provide free-of-charge assistance in all of these areas to BIDMC staff, their household members and dependents. Services include:
• 30-minute consultations with an attorney or financial planner for financial or non-job-related legal matters, with a 25 percent discount for additional services
• coaching for new supervisors
• consultation on how to improve your relationships and reduce the stress in your life
• confidential, short-term counseling for personal or family issues, provided by licensed counselors (referrals for longer term, outside counseling are also available)
• workshops on topics such as budgeting, balancing work and home, and communication skills
“When someone calls, the phone is answered by a live counselor 24/7,” says EAP Senior Consultant Bob Lenhardt. “We try to make it as easy as possible for people to access our services.”
Hospitalist Program Administrator Sarah Benet has enhanced her on-the-job performance by taking EAP workshops in time management, active communication skills and stress reduction.
“The workshops are only an hour long, and are taught by instructors who are very personable and knowledgeable,” she says. “You can really improve the skills you need to do a good job.”
Information/appointments:
800-451-1834 or
www.healthresourcescorp.com/
bidmceap.htm.
Published monthly for the people of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center to build community, communicate direction, foster pride and recognize accomplishments.
Produced by Beth Israel Deaconess communications, (66)7-7300
director, internal communications:
Cindy Whitcome
managing editor:
Valerie Hope Goldstein
print and web layout & design:
Hugh Blaisdell
contributing Writers:
Lori Howley,
Cindy Whitcome
contributing photographers:
Oran Barber, Jane Bell, Bruce Wahl
© BIDMC, Boston, MA, USA, 2006. All rights reserved. Material may be reproduced only with the express written consent of communications.
BIDMC is an EEO/AA employer.
“I am BIDMC” Puts a New Face
on Customer Service
Above: Andrew Bissaro always makes patient Ingrid Cohen’s day a little happier.
Andrew Bissaro, clinical coordinator of the Shapiro 7 Hem/BMT unit, always stays professional, in charge, and focused…He infuses a healthy attitude and warm smile to make me feel less like a cancer patient and more like the 25-year-old I sometimes forget I am. His co-workers respect him and look up to him for his dedication to his profession. Andrew is a true asset to your team.
-- Ingrid Cohen **
BIDMC has long been known for its special staff like Andrew, who go out of their way to ensure that every patient experience is as positive as the one above. Starting this month, BIDMC's new “I Am BIDMC” initiative will bring service excellence to even higher levels. Specially trained ambulatory care employees will display nametags that read “I Am BIDMC…Taking Care of You” as part of a campaign to make BIDMC patients feel even more at home through friendly phone and in-person encounters, and more patient-to-staff interaction..
“‘I Am BIDMC' encourages each staff member to take ownership of the safety and comfort of patients and visitors,” says Senior Vice President of Human Resources Lisa Zankman, who coined the slogan and is co-chairing the campaign with Senior Vice President of Ambulatory and Emergency Services Jayne Carvelli-Sheehan, MSN, RN, C. “It means that everyone who comes into the medical center is treated like part of our family.”
BIDMC staff proudly display the new "I am BIDMC" campaign logo (see close-up of the logo at left).
While BIDMC has previously conducted customer service training in individual departments, Carvelli-Sheehan explains that the “I Am BIDMC” campaign creates a model for service excellence called for by BIDMC's strategic and operating plans. “Everyone knows that the quality of care at BIDMC is equal to, or surpasses, our sister hospitals,” she says. “What has always differentiated us is service excellence. Each staff member represents the face of the medical center, and owns the responsibility to help each patient consistently experience optimal customer service.”
Carvelli-Sheehan introduced the campaign at an all-day retreat attended by more than 100 managers/directors from ambulatory care, Harvard Medical Faculty Physicians (HMFP) and patient care services, and colleagues from human resources. BIDMC Board Chair Lois Silverman set the campaign's vision.
“I have seen firsthand, both as a nurse and as a business leader, how essential superior customer service is to an organization's success,” Silverman notes.
During the retreat, Director of Organizational Development Joanne Ayoub and organizational development's Joan Simpkins shared new research into what patients define as excellent service. These include perception of visit duration and degree of “choice” in a variety of service encounters, such as in appointment scheduling.
The room exploded with ideas as attendees brainstormed on plans for long-term change as well as “jiffy quick” changes. Examples of “jiffy quick” items can already be seen in several departments. (Click HERE for a list of some of the changes that are being implemented.)
The group then discussed how to measure the plans' success. Says Carvelli-Sheehan: “Everyone walked out on the same page as to where we will be in terms of customer service: simply the best!”
Currently each ambulatory department head is meeting with physician leadership and a partner from human resources to discuss their department's customer service action plan and staffing. Eventually, all BIDMC staff will be involved in processes for taking customer service to unparalleled levels.
“We'll measure feedback and data every month with real-time results, and make adjustments as needed,” says Carvelli-Sheehan, who will report results quarterly to Silverman, President and CEO Paul Levy and COO Michael Epstein, MD.
The final word, though, will belong to BIDMC's patients. As Ingrid Cohen notes in her letter:
Medical research and technology drive BIDMC's reputation, the teaching staff, prized physicians and medical care teams fuel it, but it is also the passion for the patient demonstrated by care providers…who contribute limitless value to the hospital.
** reprinted from a patient letter with permission
- Valerie Hope Goldstein